The Pratt Community College men’s basketball team turned the tables on Colby Wednesday night. After absorbing a 4- point road loss to the Trojans a month ago, PCC prevailed 65-57 at the Dennis Lesh Sports Arena—the 8- point margin of victory being accounted for by the 4 thunderous slam-dunks engineered by the Beavers.

Pratt got up 6-0 quickly on the Trojans, DeShun Roberts, Deon Taylor and Aaron Abram each getting 2 points before Colby could get untracked. Sean Michaelson hit a 3 and Kazmere Boyd made 4 free throws to keep the momentum with Pratt. The score was 19-13 at the media time-out.

Pratt then inexplicably went cold—not scoring for over 5 minutes as the Trojans worked their way into the lead 20-19 at the 4:00 mark. Over the final 3 minutes of the half, however, Pratt once again found the range—going on an 11-0 run to get themselves back on top 30-22 at the break. Michaelson hit another 3 during the stretch, Bryan Hellman collected a Windex bucket and Javis Flynn connected on a 1+1 to pace the Beavers’ resurgence.

After the intermission, PCC began to pound the ball inside with effective results. The next 24 points scored by the Beavers came from inside the paint or from the free throw line. Included in the short-range onslaught were 3 slam-dunks by Aaron Abram and 1 by Kazmere Boyd, each of which brought appreciation from the Sophomore Night crowd at the Beaver Dome.

While PCC was taking dead aim from point-blank range, the Colbys were doing nothing to improve their shooting percentage stats. On one incredible possession, the Trojans had inside offensive rebound position, but missed 7 put-back attempts before finally being sent to the free throw line—and then the freebies were off the mark.

Pratt was up 45-31 at the 2nd half media time-out. The Beavers increased their advantage to 18, 51-33 at the 8:26 mark— their largest lead of the night. Down the stretch, Colby began pressing and went to Smackyville. They managed to trim the lead some, but PCC was patient against the press and didn’t turn it over much; and Lucas Stivrins, Devin Callon and Kazmere Boyd all collected 1+1s to help keep the Trojans at arm’s length.

A flurry of points in the final minute got Colby back to within 65-57 at the final horn, but the Beaver lead was never in serious jeopardy.

Three sophomore Beavers celebrated their final home action with the victory: Aaron Abram, Sean Michaelson and Devin Callon.

The win gives the Beavers a 15-15 record as the regular season comes to a close, 5-11 in the conference. On Saturday the Region VI playoffs begin. PCC is expected to draw the 7th seed, which means they will travel to Cowley County to take on the Tigers.

Wednesday was a fun evening for the Pratt Community College women’s basketball team as they handled the Colby Lady Trojans in relatively easy fashion, 68-44. It was Sophomore Night at Dennis Lesh Sports Arena, and the Lady Beavers celebrated by letting everyone get into the act.

“I wanted to let everyone play on Sophomore Night,” PCC head coach Stephanie Thompson explained. “Everyone contributed. It was a good team win.”

Sophomores who saw their final regular season action at the Beaver Dome included Hayli Jo Smith, Kelsey Strobel and Samantha Watson. Not suited up for the game for various reasons, (injuries etc.), but honored as sophomores as well were Hannah Mehl, Keosha Parks and Ashari Broadwater.

Colby got up 4-0 to start the game, but a 10-0 Pratt run put them back in the driver’s seat. By the first half media time-out, PCC had an 18-11 lead.

After the breather, the Lady Beavers continued to press their advantage—leading by 15 at the intermission despite substituting freely. All ten players in uniform got minutes in the first half and nine of them put points on the board. Hayli Smith paced PCC with 11 first half points.

After the intermission, if anything, the Lady Beavers stepped on the gas even a little harder. They turned up the defensive pressure in the halfcourt and were able to get themselves several transition lay-ups in the early going. Tatiana Grant accounted for three coast-to-coast steals by herself in the first 4 minutes.

“We were playing good help-side defense,” Coach Thompson observed. “We executed our defensive game plan very well. And Tatiana…If she plays like that for 40 minutes, she’ll be dangerous.” Grant ended the game with a double-double: 11 rebounds to go with her 13 points.

The Beavers had increased their lead to 48-23 by the 16:00 mark, and by the 2nd half media time-out, Pratt was up by 30+ at 59-28. From there, with reserves seeing many of the minutes, PCC coasted to a 68-44 win.

The Beavers were clicking offensively as well as defensively. In the first half, PCC shot 48% from the floor and 40% from long range. Point guard Maddie Pendry drilled 4/5 from behind the arc for the game. “We executed very well,” Thompson mentioned. “We were making our shots and getting to the rim.”

With the win to round out their regular season, PCC stands at 15-15 overall, 5-11 in the Jayhawk West. Next up for the Lady Beavers are the Region VI playoffs. Pratt should have the 6th seed and travel to Coffeyville for their first round game on Saturday.